Thief Emperor

Chapter 633 Wrap it up!
With the communication capabilities of this era, micro-control is naturally impossible. You can't let Jiusi send a letter to the front line and ask the archers in front to lower their angles by half an inch.

However, there is no problem in guiding the general strategic direction.

After all, at this time, Jiusi's abilities had already been improved, and with the communication capability of flaring arrows, which was not available in this era, it was enough to convey some simple messages, so that even if Li Yun was in the rear, he could grasp the overall battle situation and make some corresponding arrangements.

After listening to Li Yun's instructions, Meng Hai lowered his head and said, "I will prepare it right away!"

He left in a hurry, and Li Yun returned to his tent, looking through the maps of Huoqiu and Gushi, thinking silently.

In the late night, not long after Li Yun lay down to rest, Su Zhan's voice came from outside: "Master, the brothers sent out have found the enemy!"

Li Yun stood up, put on his coat, opened the tent door, and asked, "How many people are there? Where are they?"

"It's about twenty miles southwest of Huoqiu County."

Su Zhan whispered, "About a thousand people."

"Thousands of people..."

After thinking about it, Li Yun shook his head slightly and said, "Just watch from a distance."

If the two sides fought to the end, Li Yun was confident that the 800 men he brought with him could defeat the 1,000 men of the Pinglu Army without paying too high a price.

But they are now in the rear. Even if they can win at this time, as long as they fight for a while, they will definitely be discovered by the enemy, and then the Pinglu Army will surround them...

Even if they could move on horseback, their position would be completely exposed, and they would have no choice but to retreat from Huoqiu, and might even be surrounded by the enemy.

At this point, Li rubbed his brows and continued, "Go talk to Yang Xi and send some more people out to look around Huoqiu."

He said in a low voice: "Find the enemy's food supply route, or the granary where the food is stored, or the location where a small group of enemies are stationed. If the number of people is less than 500, we will take action."

To put it bluntly, Li Yun's 800 cavalrymen in the rear were not mainly responsible for offensive missions, nor did they have to fight a decisive battle with the Pinglu Army. Their more important task was to gather intelligence and command on the battlefield.

If we can find some small-scale Pinglu troops or food routes, then we can get rid of them and that would be a good thing.

Su Zhan lowered his head and responded.

"Yes."

Li Yun looked at him and continued, "I'm going to sleep for a while. If there's anything, come and tell me immediately. Don't be afraid of disturbing me."

Su Zhan lowered his head again.

"I see."

…………

In the city of Huoqiu County.

Gongsun Hao sat below General Zhou, and in front of both of them were teacups and tea sets.

At this time, Xie Zhao, a deputy general under the Pinglu Army, was in charge of the Pinglu Army near Chuzhou, and another deputy general Luo Zhen was in charge of specific battles on the front line. The only one who could accompany Zhou Xu was Gongsun Hao, who was already unemployed.

General Zhou was holding a document in his hand at the moment. After reading it, he looked at Gongsun Hao and said silently, "The intelligence said that after Li Yun left Chuzhou, he went to Fengyang. Then the next day, he left Fengyang with several hundred cavalry and headed for our battlefield."

Gongsun Hao lowered his head and said, "General, this is not surprising at all. When Li Yun is on the battlefield, he is like an energetic monster."

"Moreover, according to my understanding of him, this person is different from ordinary people."

"Ordinary people will have some fear when they go to the battlefield. If they fight for a long time, they will become manic and crazy."

"But this Li Yun is not like that. On the contrary, he becomes excited when he arrives on the battlefield. It seems that this man was born for the battlefield."

"Once he escapes from Chuzhou, he will definitely go to the frontline battlefield as soon as possible to experience the battlefield firsthand."

“This person…”

Gongsun Hao recalled the scene when he was captured by Li Yun on foot while riding on a horse. Fear appeared in his eyes and he murmured, "How terrible."

Zhou Xu lowered his head to drink tea, looked at him, and continued: "Gongsun, although we are superiors and subordinates, we have become like brothers over the years. After you returned to Qingzhou, many captives said that when you were in Jinling, Li Yun met you privately and had a long conversation with you."

"Out of trust, I have never asked you about this. Now that there are no outsiders around, you can tell me."

General Zhou said slowly: "What did Li Yun tell you?"

Gongsun Hao stood up, bowed his head and saluted Zhou Xu, saying: "General, Li Yun told me that as long as he meets me in private, even if he doesn't say anything, I will definitely not be reused after I return to Qingzhou..."

Zhou Xu was stunned when he heard this.

After Gongsun Hao came back, he did not use Gongsun Hao anymore, at least on some important matters, he no longer trusted and no longer used Gongsun Hao.

He was silent for a long time before waving his hand: "I understand."

"Go and have some rest."

"Yes."

Gongsun Hao bowed his head respectfully and said, "I will take my leave."

Not long after he left the main hall, Zhou Gui walked in quickly, bowed his head deeply to General Zhou who was drinking tea and said, "General, the enemy's reinforcements have joined forces with the enemy!" General Zhou frowned and did not speak immediately.

At this moment, the Pinglu Army had been fighting with Meng Qing's troops in the Gushi area for four or five days.

For four or five days, both sides basically stayed in their respective positions and attacked each other on small battlefields near their positions.

There were wins and losses on both sides.

In such a large-scale war, up to now, the casualties on both sides combined are only about 5,000.

This result made Zhou Xu somewhat dissatisfied, but at the same time he felt relieved.

Because he had suffered a great loss in Chuzhou before. Under Li Yun's command, the casualty ratio between the Pinglu Army and the Jiangdong Army reached a terrifying four to one!

Even higher.

Even in a siege war, this ratio of casualties is hard to accept.

Zhou Xu once doubted in his heart whether the combat effectiveness of the Jiangdong soldiers had far surpassed that of his Pinglu Army.

But judging from the current situation, the combat effectiveness of the Jiangdong soldiers... is just so-so.

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It's just a 50-50 match with the Pinglu Army!

In other words, even if he lost in Jiangbei and finally retreated to the north of the Huai River, relying on the Pinglu Army's base, he should be able to easily defend the Pinglu Army's existing territory and would not be beaten to the north of the Huai River by Li Yun and swallow Qingzhou.

Although he thought so in his heart, Zhou Xu couldn't help feeling some emotion.

The Jiangdong soldiers developed too fast.

Under normal circumstances, even if the Jiangdong soldiers now have a number of 100,000, their combat effectiveness should be similar to that of local armies such as the Jingnan Army and the Wuchang Army.

In fact, it should be similar to the rebels led by Wang Junping back then.

However, within a few years, the combat effectiveness of the Jiangdong soldiers had caught up with the old vassal states such as the Pinglu Army, and even caught up with the relatively elite among the Pinglu Army.

Even in a battle in the wild, we will not be at a disadvantage!
This is very scary.

If we add Li Yun's internal administrative capabilities in Jiangdong, the overall strength of Jiangdong now far exceeds that of the Pinglu Army.

It's almost double the amount!
General Zhou narrowed his eyes and whispered to himself.

"Jiangdong, Jiangdong..."

…………

Meng Qing’s camp in Gushi.

Chen Da, dressed in armor, strode in. Meng Qing hurried forward, bowed deeply and said, "Brother!"

The two knew each other.

When Li Yun went to Shidai, he took Chen Da and others with him. Although they had never met each other in Shidai, when Li Yun arrived in Yuezhou and Meng Qing started to join the army, the two had already known each other in Yuezhou.

Chen Da is much older than Meng Qing, and in the past, people like Chen Da had taken good care of Meng Qing. So when they met now, Meng Qing addressed him as brother.

Chen Da waved his hand and said with a smile: "General Xiao Meng is amazing. I heard that General Zhou is now at the front line in Gushi. You have been fighting against General Zhou for so many days and you are still not at a disadvantage."

He sighed sincerely, "He has surpassed all of us by a huge margin."

Meng Qing whispered, "With similar numbers, our Jiangdong soldiers are no worse than the Pinglu Army. It is reasonable for us to fight like this. If we lose, it will be my fault, and..."

He said seriously: "I still can't do it. If General Su and General Zhao were here, or if the Lord himself was here, we would definitely be able to defeat the enemy instead of confronting the Pinglu Army."

"Be humble, be humble."

Chen Da looked at Meng Qing and said with a smile, "The people from the Ninth Division said that the higher-ups have something to do for us. I haven't received any news yet. Little Meng, do you have any news?"

"Have."

Meng Qing nodded and whispered, "What the superiors mean is to let my brother lead the troops to seal the Huai River defense line north of Shouzhou to prevent these Pinglu troops from crossing the Huai River from Shouzhou and escaping north."

"In Fengyang, the retreat route of the Pinglu Army has already been cut off."

Chen Da was startled, then asked, "Can you cover it?"

Meng Qing whispered, "That's what the superior ordered."

"Then let's do it."

Chen Da turned around and left without hesitation.

"I'll do it right now!"

...

(I seem to be sick, my head hurts a bit, and I can't remember the plot while typing. The chapter that will be published tomorrow morning will remain unchanged, but the next chapter may not be published. I would like to ask for a chapter off from you all! I hope you will grant my permission. Thank you all!)
(End of this chapter)